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Meet the team! |
Principal Investigator
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PABLO RIPOLLÉS
Pablo Ripollés is an Assistant Professor with a joint position between the Department of Psychology and the Music and Audio Research Laboratory (MARL) at New York University. He serves as MARL's associate director since September 2020. He received a B.M. in Computer Engineering from University of València (2009), an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Navarra (2011), and a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Barcelona (2016). Dr. Ripollés' work relies on creating a joint theoretical framework to study language, reward, memory and music with a clear objective: capitalize on music to shape cognition, and capitalize on cognition to shape music. CV | Google Scholar | Twitter | Email |
Lab Manager
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ISABELLE BURGER-WEISER
Isabelle Burger-Weiser is the Lab Manager for the Ripollés Lab and the NYU Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL). She studied philosophy and physics as an undergraduate at Columbia University and earned her masters degree in Music Technology at NYU. Previously, she worked as a lab manager and research assistant for Dr. Leila Adu-Gilmore in the Critical Sonic Practice Lab, which conducts studies that counteract othering in music scholarship, technology, and education. As a multimedia producer with a background in songwriting and live performance, she strives to play a role in the social and cultural conversation surrounding music and audio in addition to pursuing her own creative projects. Her current research focuses on soundscape composition and developing immersive experiences tied to environmental awareness and the realities of climate change. Website | Email |
Visiting Scholar
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LUCÍA VAQUERO
Lucía Vaquero is a visiting scholar at NYU associated with the Department of Psychology, Center for Language Music and Emotion (CLaME), and the Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL). Dr. Vaquero acts as a senior researcher at the Center for Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience (Madrid, Spain) where she has started her own line of research focused on Neuroscience & Music. She has recently been awarded an EU-funded fellowship from the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions program to carry out her project Social Media Artistic tRaining in Teenagers (SMART), which will allow her to develop her work over 3 years in different collaborating centers: New York University (USA), Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (Germany), and private company Salumedia Labs (Spain). Dr. Vaquero's expertise resides in the study of brain plasticity phenomena associated with musical experience using mainly neuropsychological and structural neuroimaging methods. In her numerous collaborative projects, she has applied different multi-methodological approaches, and she continues to expand her knowledge in order to the extract the best, most complete conclusions from diverse sources of information (cognitive, behavioral, mental health markers, neurophysiological data, brain structural information, etc.). Google Scholar | Twitter (SMART) | LinkedIn | Email |
PhD Student
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ELLIE BEAN ABRAMS
Ellie Bean Abrams is a PhD student in NYU’s Cognition and Perception program working under the supervision of Pablo Ripollés and David Poeppel. Before starting her PhD, Ellie worked at NYU’s Neuroscience of Language lab, where she investigated basic linguistic processing in the child brain using MEG. Previously she studied cognitive science and music at Pomona College. Ellie’s research explores the musical experience, beginning at the moment the brain extracts a perceived pitch from a musical stimulus and ending at the experience of individualized musical pleasure. More broadly, she uses music, an abstract stimulus, to study the interaction between human memory and reward using behavioral, neural, and computational techniques. She is also interested in the speech-music interface and the encoding of lower- and higher-order musical features. CV | Email |
PhD Student
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ELENA GEORGIEVA
Elena Georgieva is a PhD student at NYU's Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL) working with Dr. Pablo Ripollés and Dr. Brian McFee. Before coming to NYU, Elena taught sound recording at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), where she received her master’s degree in 2019. Elena is a singer and vocal producer and performs with several singing groups! Elena is interested in studying how people interact with music in their everyday lives and how technology can enhance those interactions. Broadly, she does music, psychology, and machine learning. Email | Website |
PhD Student
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MICHAL GOLDSTEIN
Michal Goldstein is a PhD student in the Department of Music Technology and the Music and Audio Research Laboratory (MARL) at New York University. Her advisors are Mary Farbood (MARL) and Pablo Ripollés (MARL/Psychology). She received a B.A. in Musicology and Psychology (2016), and an M.A in Musicology and Cognitive Sciences (2019) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Michal is interested in the intersection between music theory and perception, and in using the experience of music listening in order to better understand the brain. |
PhD Student
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ANNA PALUMBO
Anna Palumbo is a PhD candidate in the Rehabilitation Science Program at NYU, where she works with Dr. Pablo Ripollés in the Music and Auditory Research Laboratory (MARL) and Dr. Gerald Voelbel in the Department of Occupational Therapy. She also collaborates on research initiatives with Dr. Alan Turry at the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Anna received her master’s degree in music therapy from NYU. As a music therapist, she worked with adults with neurodegenerative disease, acquired brain injury and mental illness, as well as autistic people and other neurodiverse populations. |
PhD Student
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BRANDON CARONE
Brandon Carone is a PhD student in NYU’s Cognition and Perception program working with Dr. Pablo Ripollés. His research focuses primarily on the cognitive neuroscience of music, memory, and reward, and he is interested in studying the effects of music on cognitive and emotional development, the neural substrates of musical pleasure and spontaneous musical performance, and the use of musical tools to combat neurodegenerative disease. Brandon received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from UCLA, where he studied memory and cognition across the lifespan, and how music and memory processes interact in the brain. After graduating, he conducted clinical and developmental research at UCSD in studies that utilized a range of neuroimaging modalities alongside neuropsychological, clinical, and neurosensory assessments. Beyond academia, Brandon is a multi-instrumentalist who has been composing music for most of his life, and he has worked closely with the Music Mends Minds and Music & Memory non-profit organizations. |
PhD Student
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EVA LUNA MUÑOZ VIDAL
Eva Luna is a PhD student in the Rehabilitation Sciences Program at NYU working with Dr. Pablo Ripollés and Dr. Adeen Flinker. She is particularly interested in deciphering the influence and enhancing the efficiency of music-based interventions as a therapeutic and rehabilitation tool to promote recovery in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Before joining NYU as a PhD student, Eva Luna received a B.S. in Human and Animal Biotechnology from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (2020) and a M.S. in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience from Sorbonne University (2022). She has served as a research and university assistant in various laboratories (Pasteur Institute in Paris, New York University, and the University of Vienna) all with a shared focus on the interaction between music and cognitive processes in the brain. Classically trained in violin performance from age 5, Eva Luna holds a Professional Music Diploma from the Professional Conservatory of Music of Valencia (2018). Her performance background spans a diverse range of musical genres, and she has been an engaged violinist in symphony orchestras around the globe, a passion she still pursues here in New York City. Email | LinkedIn |
Master's Student
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RICHARD HE
Richard He is a Master's student in the General Psychology program at New York University. He holds a B.S. in Cognitive Psychology and a B.A. in Music, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Within the lab, Richard is engaged in the validation of the CHILLER, a Computer Human Interface for the Live Labeling of Emotional Responses. He is driven by questions such as: "What underlies the pleasure that music provides its listeners, often manifesting as goosebumps?" and "What are the neural mechanisms at play in this phenomenon?". His interests extend to AI, machine learning, and neuroscience. Beyond his academic pursuits, Richard has a passion for singing. He was a part of an a cappella group, two choirs, a musical, a student film, and a play in college. |
Alumni
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RICHA NAMBALLA
Richa Namballa was a Master’s student in NYU’s Music Technology program and a Research Assistant in the Ripollés Lab. Her research focused on the improvement of the Computer Human Interface for the Live Labeling of Emotional Responses (CHILLER) for goosebump detection. Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, Richa received a B.A. in Statistics and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. Upon graduation, she worked for five years in Silicon Valley as a data scientist in enterprise procurement software. Richa is currently a PhD student at New York University where she works under the supervision of Professor Magdalena Fuentes. |
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MICHAEL McPHEE
Michael McPhee was a Junior Research Scientist and Lab Manager at New York University. He was also the Assistant to the Associate Director of NYU's Music and Audio Research Laboratory (MARL) and helped to coordinate MARL talks and events. He received a B.A. in Biology, Neuroscience, and Cognitive Science from Williams College (2015) and worked with Dr. Ripollés from the lab's early days. Before coming to NYU, Michael was a research assistant in the Freiwald Lab at Rockefeller University and in the Maroja Lab at Williams College. Michael is currently a PhD student at Northeastern University where he researches the cognitive psychology of perception and consciousness in the Subjectivity Lab under the supervision of Professor Jorge Morales. KARLEIGH GROVES
Karleigh Groves was a Junior Research Scientist and Lab Manager at New York University in the Ripollés Lab and the Music and Auditory Research Lab (MARL). She received a M.A. in Social Sciences with a concentration in Psychology and a graduate certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Chicago (2022). She received her B.A. in Psychology with minors in Neuroscience and Classics from Hofstra University (2021). Before coming to NYU, Karleigh was a graduate research assistant in the Embodying Race(ism) Lab at the University of Chicago. Karleigh is currently a PhD student at Lehigh University where she studies identity and group dynamics in the Group Dynamics and Social Change Lab under the supervision of Dr. Jiin Jung and Dr. Dominic Packer. |